There are certain characters in movies that you cannot imagine being played by someone else. These actors embody their characters so well that it might have changed the film entirely if that role was filled by another actor. Whether they were rejected by the producers or turned down the role in favour of another opportunity, these are seven iconic movie roles that were nearly played by a different actor. It’s not all bad news though, as many of these actors ended up playing a role that was equally as famous.
Al Pacino as Han Solo in Star Wars
Perhaps this rugged actor, known for playing Michael Corleone in The Godfather, would have fit the role of this mischief-maker in space – smuggler-captain of the Millennium Falcon, Han Solo. However, Al Pacino found the script too confusing, and turned it down. Before Harrison Ford took the role and would become the Han Solo we would come to know and love forever, Burt Reynolds also turned it down, and Sylvester Stallone and Kurt Russell auditioned, but didn’t get the part.
Jim Carrey as Buddy in Elf
Jim Carrey is one of our favourite funny guys in film, so it might not be surprising that he almost played the role of Buddy in Elf. He originally agreed when the script was written in 1993, however it took so long to start production that Carrey eventually dropped out to work on other things. When the movie was finally made in 2003, Will Ferrell was the one to play Santa’s oversized elf.
Michelle Pfeiffer as Clarice Starling in The Silence of the Lambs
Despite winning an Oscar only a year or two earlier, Jodie Foster had to convince director Jonathan Demme of her acting abilities. Unimpressed with Foster’s award-winning performance in The Accused, and dissatisfied with her acting abilities, Demme wanted Michelle Pfeiffer to play the quiet but intelligent FBI student. Believing that the script was too dark, she turned down the role, which Demme then offered to Meg Ryan and Laura Dern. The producer’s fought for Foster to play Starling, to which Demme reluctantly accepted, then realised how wrong he had been when she flourished in the role.
Tom Hiddleston as Thor
It’s hard to imagine him as anyone other than the mischievous Loki, but when Hiddleston first auditioned to be in the Marvel universe, he wanted to play the role of Thor. Instead, Marvel chose Chris Hemsworth to play the God of Thunder, but clearly liked Hiddleston, as he went on to play his roguish brother, the God of Mischief. There are no hard feelings, though, as Hiddleston said on the Jimmy Fallon show that “I think we can all agree that they cast the right actor”.
John Travolta as Forrest Gump
Tom Hanks is one of everyone’s favourite actors, with one of his most iconic roles being Forrest Gump, so it’s hard to imagine if someone else had played this ping-pong playing, shrimp boat captain that loves running. Travolta apparently turned down the role to appear in Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction, so maybe it wasn’t a bad decision after all. Both Bill Murray and Chevy Chase were in the running to play Gump, before it went to Hanks.
Will Smith as Neo in The Matrix
Hot off the success of many of the top nineties’ films, including Independence Day and Men in Black, it’s not surprising that he was offered the part of cool and courageous Neo. In retrospect, Smith regrets turning down one of the biggest sci-fi films of the century, calling the Wachowskis “geniuses”, although at the time he clearly didn’t think so. Similar to Al Pacino turning down Star Wars, Will Smith thought their pitch was confusing, and that the movie was probably better off without him.
Emma Watson as Mia in La La Land
The Harry Potter star was originally set to be in Damien Chazelle’s musical all about Hollywood. However, she had already accepted the role of Belle in the live-action adaptation of Beauty and the Beast, and it became clear that there was a lot of work and training needed even before the production of this Disney film, such as singing, horse-training and dancing. Therefore, the role went to a different Emma, this time Emma Stone. The male lead was meant to be played by Miles Teller when Watson was part of the line-up, but that ended up falling through too, and the character of Sebastian was eventually played by Ryan Gosling.
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